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Pinball
BUG-BYTE VOLTMACE COMMODORE Reviews Bug-Byte Summary Your Computer Issue 4 Writer: Eric Deeson Pinball – 6K, graphics 2K £4.50 - is almost as inspired a model of the real thing as Fruit Machine. Modelling one of those old mechanical arcade games, it requires little input skill and you cannot Tilt. The sound is good; the graphics average. Voltmace Summary C+VG Issue 2 Pinball players can sharpen up their flipper skills at home before going out and impressing their local arcade users. Database has just added this game to its list of cartridges available this Christmas. Pinball's rules are — faithful to most arcade games — the player striving to keep the ball in play for as long as possible to build up the highest score. With eight different skill versions of Pinball on the cartridge it gives players of all capabilities a chance to have a go. In all variations you have five "balls" to play with but games can either be played with single or double flippers. Four of the games are more difficult because they are faster and the difficulty increases when you pass the 200 points mark. Then the flippers get further and further apart leaving a larger gap for the ball to escape through. No tilting and no cheating in this game! If you keep your finger constantly on the "fire" button so that the flippers are flying all the time, you will only decrease your score — quickly. You can get hold of a Pinball cartridge directly from Hertfordshire-based Voltmace for £14 Commodore Summary Popular Computing Weekly Issue 5 Writer: Peter Gerrard This Commodore product comes in the form of a plug-in cartridge, and connects straight up to the Vic. On power up, the instructions for playing the game are displayed on the screen, rather off-centre. Don't adjust the centring just yet though: read the instructions first (you can see most of them), and when the screen shows the pinball table centre it up then. Pressing function key 1 gets the ball rolling, and then you press function key 1 or 3 depending on whether you want a one or two player game respectively. This game may hit your wallet, however, because you require the Vic paddle to play it. The game itself is very exciting, and the use of the Vic's high resolution graphics, colour and sound is excellent. Once the ball is released, you have two blocks with which to stop the ball disappearing down the centre of the 'table'. At the top of the screen is a wall of small coloured blocks, which you have to knock out in 'breakout' fashion. If you manage to do this, a strange alien being appears in its place, and if you kill this 'being' (just by hitting it) a random bonus score is achieved. In the top centre of the screen various other aliens appear from time to time, and bonus points are also awarded for hitting those. One of the very interesting features of this game is a row of 'faces' towards the bottom of the screen. As the ball passes over them they turn from a frown to a smile, and making all five of them beam happily away gives you yet more bonus points. This is not as easy as it sounds, because if the ball passes over a particular face again, it reverts from a smile to a frown, so to get all five smiling at the same time is hard. A bonus ball is achieved if you reach a score of 50,000 which is not often done. I believe the highest score recorded at the recent Hanover Fair, for instance, was just over 35,000. Summary A very good and very addictive game, which makes full use of the programming facilities available on the Vic. Seeing games like this makes you wish that more writers of games software for the Vic would adhere to this high standard. Commodore Computing International Issue 2 Writer: Peter Gerrard (assumed) Another gem, this one again a Commodore product (at least that's what it says on the screen), and thus should be available from any Commodore VIC dealer. It comes in the form of a plug-in cartridge, and this manner of supplying games is to be applauded: people don't want to spend any more than is necessary, and to keep having to pay for extra RAM as games get ever more inventive (and consequently longer) rapidly becomes a costly exercise. On power up, the instructions for playing the game are displayed on the screen, rather off-centre. Don't adjust the centering just yet though: read the instructions first (you can see most of them), and when the screen clears to display the pinball table centre it up then with the cursor keys. Pressing function key 1 sets the ball rolling, and then you press function key 1 or 3 depending on whether you want a one or two player game respectively. You will need to go into some additional expenditure to play this game however: it relies on the use of the VIC paddle to play the game. But at 13.50 pounds this is not too bad. It also makes the game significantly easier to play, as it means you don't have to sit poised over the keyboard all the time. You can go into relaxed mode whilst attempting to rattle up the highest score. Use of graphics The game itself is very good, and the use of the VICs high resolution graphics, colour and sound is excellent. Once the ball is released, you have two blocks with which to stop the ball disappearing down the centre of the 'table'. At the top of the screen is a wall of small coloured blocks, which you have to knock out in 'breakout' fashion. If you manage to do this, a strange alien being appears in their place, and by killing this being (just by hitting it) a random bonus score is achieved. In the top centre of the screen various other aliens appear from time to time, and again bonus points are awarded for hitting those. One of the very nice features of this game is a row of 'faces' towards the bottom of the screen. As the ball passes over them they turn from a frown to a smile, and making all five of them beam happily away gives you yet more bonus points. This is not as easy as it sounds, because if the ball passes over a particular face again, it reverts from a smile to a frown, so to get all five smiling at the same time is rather difficult. A bonus ball is achieved if you reach a score of 50,000, which is not often done. The highest score recorded at the recent Hanover Fair, for instance, was just over 35,000 (I think), by well known graphics designer and clairvoyant extraordinaire Myles Hewitt. Summary A very good, and very addictive, game, making full use of the programming facilities available on the VIC. Seeing games like this, and Alien as well for that matter, make you wish that more writers of games software for the VIC would adhere to this high standard. News Tandy C+VG Issue 4 - (February 1982) Flipper flicking for the family - page 11 Invent your own pinball machine design to make the most of your flipper-flicking skills. Pinball wizards are given their chance to improve on arcade designs in the latest cassette for the new Tandy TRS-80 Colour Computer. A feature of the game is that you can decide how many flippers you want, where they should be positioned and how difficult or easy the finished game is and then try it out on the rest of the family. Pinball incorporates all the features of the classic arcade game, you have to judge the best angle to hit the ball in order to make the best improvement to your score. The game is for up to four players and you can try it out for yourself at the Which Computer? Show in a competition which offers the Colour Computer as a prize. All the entry money collected will be donated to the Muscular Dystrophy Group and will be spent on more electronic aids for medical research. Hopes are high for piles of cash as the show organiser Clapp & Poliak is to match the sum raised on competition entry fees. If you fancy a go the show is on from 19-22 January at Birmingham's National Exhibition Centre The Pinball cassette costs £22.95 from your Tandy dealer. Category:Voltmace Database Games Category:VIC-20 Games Category:Voltmace Category:C+VG Reviews Category:Popular Computing Weekly Reviews Category:Commodore Category:Bug-Byte Category:Atom Games Category:Your Computer Reviews Category:Tandy TRS-80 CoCo Games Category:Tandy